About 89.0 RTL

89.0 RTL

89.0 RTL is the youth station of the Funkhaus Halle — a German contemporary-hit-radio channel whose studios are in Halle (Saale), aimed at the 14–29 age bracket. First aired on 24 August 2003, it replaced Project 89.0 Digital. Produced in the same broadcast house as Radio Brocken, it is part of the RTL Group. While licensed to Saxony-Anhalt, the exposed Brocken position at 1,142 m gives it one of the technically longest-reaching FM frequencies in Germany: reception extends across large parts of central Germany, including Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony — in good weather even Bremen and Hamburg.

Overview

89.0 RTL is a private youth CHR broadcaster. Beyond the FM frequency it is transmitted on DAB and via livestream: DAB+ on channel 11C in Saxony-Anhalt, 12B in Thuringia, 12C in Hamburg, 12A in Saxony since mid-March 2023, and in Lower Saxony since July 2023. The station produces numerous web-only music streams — genres including Deutschrap, Workout, Party Trash and 90s — free via internet, smart speaker and Apple CarPlay, and is strongly networked with its listener community via Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

History

The frequency was used by Radio DDR 1 and Radio Aktuell in East Germany; after reunification it went to the AH Antenne Hörfunk-Sender GmbH & Co. KG. As a pilot project, Project 89.0 Digital went on air in 2001 as a DAB programme with a rock-and-alternative format that quickly built a loyal audience but stayed commercially modest. After the RTL Group joined as principal investor, a strategy change renamed Project 89.0 Digital to 89.0 RTL on 24 August 2003, with a changed music format and the morning show taken over by Dörti-Dani. Awards include the 2018 Lower Saxon Media Prize (Dialogue category) for the "Social-Media-Show" with morning host BigNick and influencer Justin Prince, and the 2016 German Radio Prize for "Die-Hans-Blomberg-Show". Listener figures ranged from 216,000 (2013) to 128,000 (2020).

Programming

The contemporary-hit-radio programme targets 14–29-year-olds with current hits, plus web-only music streams across genres. The morning show and strong social-media integration anchor the brand.

Coverage & Audience

89.0 RTL broadcasts on FM 89.0 MHz from the Brocken — one of Germany's technically longest-reaching frequencies, covering Saxony-Anhalt plus large parts of Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony (and in good weather Bremen and Hamburg) — on DAB+ across Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hamburg, Saxony and Lower Saxony, and worldwide via livestream.

Ownership

The operator is the Funkhaus Halle GmbH & Co. KG (formerly AH Antenne Hörfunk-Sender GmbH & Co. KG), part of the RTL Group, which is majority-owned by Bertelsmann.

Digital Presence

The station operates 89.0rtl.de with a livestream and numerous web-only music streams alongside apps, smart-speaker and Apple CarPlay support, plus a strong social-media presence on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. The digital offering carries the station's youth CHR programme and genre streams on demand.

Project 89.0 Digital

89.0 RTL traces its origins to "Project 89.0 Digital", a programme that started on DAB in the early 2000s before the FM launch. On 24 August 2003 the station went on air as 89.0 RTL — a private AC station for Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, named after its flagship FM frequency 89.0 MHz from the Brocken transmitter in the Harz mountains. The owner is the RTL Radio Deutschland GmbH; managing director Marc Angerstein (who also leads Hitradio RTL Niedersachsen) and programme director Klaus Vorbrodt (also managing director of Radio Brocken) run the station. Regional studios in Hanover, Bremen and Hamburg supply the local content for the four-state broadcast area.

The Brocken Frequency

The name says it all: 89.0 MHz from the Brocken — the highest peak in northern Germany at 1,141 metres — gives the station one of the largest FM footprints of any German private station, reaching from Lower Saxony across Bremen and Hamburg into Schleswig-Holstein and deep into Saxony-Anhalt. The AC format with the slogan "die besten Hits aller Zeiten" ("the best hits of all time") is designed for the broad adult audience of the whole northern region, with local news every half hour, weather and traffic service. The station is received on FM, DAB+, cable, satellite and as a worldwide livestream.

The RTL Deutschland Family

89.0 RTL belongs to the RTL Radio Deutschland portfolio alongside stations such as Hitradio RTL Sachsen and Radio Brocken — the latter also transmitting from the Brocken and sharing management with 89.0 RTL. The shared management and the Brocken transmitter link the stations into a northern-German RTL network: 89.0 RTL for the four-state AC audience, Radio Brocken for Saxony-Anhalt, Hitradio RTL Sachsen for Saxony — one group, three regional brands, all broadcasting the RTL radio idea across the north and east.

From Project 89.0 Digital to 89.0 RTL

89.0 RTL went on air in its current form on 24 August 2003 — replacing "Project 89.0 Digital". The story began in 2001, when the state's media authorities wanted to promote the DAB standard and the operator (then AH Antenne Hörfunk-Sender GmbH & Co. KG) launched a second programme on a DAB channel. Since DAB had practically no distribution at the time, the station was also allowed on FM 89.0 MHz — at the cost of Radio Brocken's most important frequency, though the remaining filler frequencies proved sufficient for Saxony-Anhalt. Project 89.0 digital aired a rock and alternative programme from 2001 to 2003 that quickly built a loyal audience but remained commercially unsuccessful. Then the RTL Group joined as the main investor: strategy changed, the station was renamed 89.0 RTL, and the music format flipped to CHR — "Die besten Hits von heute" ("Today's best hits") for 14- to 39-year-olds, giving the impression of a completely new programme. A host called "Dörti-Dani" took the morning show; the former morning host "Sascha Mad Dog, the Morgenlatte Polzin" continued afternoons as "Sascha". The station is produced in the same Funkhaus in Halle as Radio Brocken; managing directors Mike Bröhl and Tina Wilhelm, programme director Tina Wilhelm.

Germany's Longest-Reaching Frequency

The FM frequency 89.0 MHz, broadcast from the Brocken in the Harz mountains, is considered one of the technically longest-reaching in Germany: programmes on it are received not only in Saxony-Anhalt but across large parts of Lower Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg — and in good weather even in Bremen and Hamburg and parts of eastern Westphalia and northern Hesse. In GDR times the frequency carried Radio DDR 1 and Radio Aktuell. Unlike sister station Radio Brocken, which stays firmly focused on Saxony-Anhalt, 89.0 RTL addresses a larger, loosely defined area — the "RTL sector": traffic and speed-camera reports cover Wolfsburg, Hanover, Brunswick, Göttingen, Kassel, Erfurt and Bad Hersfeld, although the licence formally covers only Saxony-Anhalt. The station has won national recognition: the Lower Saxony Media Prize 2018 in the Dialogue category for a social-media show with morning host BigNick and influencer Justin Prince, and the Deutscher Radiopreis 2016 for "The Hans Blomberg Show". It is broadcast on FM 89.0, on DAB+ channel 11C (Brocken, Wittenberg, Kapaunberg/Magdeburg, Petersberg/Halle, Schneidlingen), cable and livestream — central Germany's hit station from the top of the Harz.

The Nixer Stunt

Project 89.0 digital pulled off one of German radio's most memorable PR coups with "Die Nixer" — a satirical casting band parodying shows like Deutschland sucht den Superstar. After a multi-week casting, five young people from the station's coverage area were selected from over 3,000 applicants on the strict criterion that they must be able to do nothing — and look like it. Their debut single "Nix" contained nothing but an initial count-in and the acoustic background noise of the room; promoted with persistent jingles and bought by the station's listeners, it reached number 73 in the German single charts on 26 May 2003 for one week. For its second single the band radically changed style with a cover of The House of the Rising Sun. Only months later, Project 89.0 digital itself was dissolved and replaced by 89.0 RTL.